Moments in Time – September 8, 2022

#Middlebury

• On Sept. 22, 1776, in New York City, Nathan Hale, a captain in the Continental Army, is executed by the British for spying. Before being executed, legend holds that Hale said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” There is no historical record to prove that Hale actually made this statement.
• On Sept. 23, 1846, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovers the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory. The blue gas giant has a diameter four times that of Earth and completes an orbit of the sun once every 165 years.
• On Sept. 24, 1902, pioneering cookbook author Fannie Farmer, who changed the way Americans prepare food by advocating the use of standardized measurements in recipes, opens Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery in Boston. Farmer later educated medical professionals about the importance of proper nutrition for the sick.
• On Sept. 24, 1975, “Three Days of the Condor,” a political thriller starring Robert Redford, opens. In the film, Redford played a low-level CIA employee being stalked by an assassin. The film was based on the novel “Six Days of the Condor” by James Grady.
• On Sept. 20, 1988, at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, American diver Greg Louganis wins the gold medal on the springboard despite nearly knocking himself unconscious during a qualifying round dive the previous day. Bloodied and dazed, he received five stitches from a doctor before returning to the board.
• On Sept. 19, 1995, a manifesto by the Unabomber is published in the hope that someone will recognize the person who, for 17 years, killed and maimed innocent people by sending homemade bombs through the mail. David Kaczynski linked the writing style to that of his older brother Ted, who was later convicted of the attacks.
• On Sept. 21, 2008, the last game at historic Yankee Stadium – “The House That Ruth Built” – is played. In the finale, the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-3, as future Hall-of-Famer Mariano Rivera closed the game with a perfect ninth inning.

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